The nation's warring politicians are likely to hold fire for the next few days as the public's attention turns once again to baseball and a series of exhibition games featuring the Japanese Professional Baseball champions Daiei Hawks.
The tour, sponsored by the People First Party (PFP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), among others, includes two games against Taiwan's national team and one against the Sinon Bulls.
Representatives of the sponsors, including PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and KMT Legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), will each pitch a "first ball" in the first game today in Kaohsiung.
In September, opposition legislators accused the Democratic Progressive Party of trying to pressure the Amateur Baseball Association, which is helping organize the tour, to allow President Chen Shui-bian (
Soong, Wang, Chen, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) have been invited by association to watch the games in VIP boxes, but all have chosen to sit in regular seats.
No matter where Chen sits, he is expected to bring the "A-bian curse," a phenomenon in which the home side never wins when he is present. In the five most recent games he has attended, the home side lost four times. The other game ended in a tie.
When asked about the curse yesterday, Chen laughed and said, "It is no big deal that there are jokes about the `A-bian curse,' but a game depends really on each side's ability rather than the curse. Some Taiwanese fans brought A-bian dolls to watch the Taiwan-Japan game in the 2003 Asian Baseball Championship, but still Taiwan did not win the game."
The Asian Baseball Championship, held in Japan, was held to decide who from the region would compete in next year's Olympic Games. Despite losing to Japan, Taiwan made it to the Olympics after beating China and South Korea.
The Hawks, led by former Yomiuri Giants slugger and Taiwanese national Sadaharu Oh (王貞治), will play the Taiwanese national team at 6:30pm tonight and 1pm tomorrow afternoon in Kaohsiung Chengching Lake Baseball Park. They will play the Sinon Bulls at 1pm on Sunday at Tienmu Baseball Park.
Oh was raised in Japan and speaks no Chinese. Nevertheless, he has kept his Taiwanese passport and takes great interest in the country's fortunes.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS